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The Top Ten #1 NBA Draft Picks August 25, 2006 by Tim Adams Who's the best #1 draft pick of all-time? Who would you take? Here's my take..... 1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem gets the nod over Magic, Oscar and others on this list for a few simple reasons. He scored more points (NBA record 38,387), grabbed more rebounds (17,440), won more championships (6) and won more MVPs (NBA record 6) than anybody else on this list. But mainly it's because the guy doesn't seem to get the recognition he deserves. It seems too often he is overshadowed by either former teammates (Magic & Oscar) or by other dominant bigmen (Wilt before him and Shaq presently). Kareem is absolutely one of the best ever, and of course you can't beat the Skyhook. The sheer volume of numbers and awards during his remarkably long career trump all others on this list. 2. Magic Johnson Magic beats out Oscar because he won a few more titles than Oscar did. Also, Oscar always gets the tag of being the only player to average a triple-double, but if Magic were playing (in his prime) in the early '60s, he would have undoubtedly gotten a few more rebounds and assists per game, and achieved one or more triple-double seasons. Johnson was the heart and soul of five Showtime championship teams. 3. Oscar Robertson Oscar may not have won five titles like Magic, but than he also never had the talent (excluding Kareem) surrounding him to win multiple titles. Also, Oscar was in his prime win the Boston Celtics were a juggernaut. To Oscar's credit, he was a much more prolific scorer than Magic ever was. He stormed into the league and as a rookie averaged 30 points while dishing out 9.7 assists and grabbing 10.1 rebounds per game, and went on to average over 25 points for his career. He finished his career with 26,710 points, which was second only to Wilt Chamberlain at the time. 4. Elgin Baylor Baylor literally saved the Lakers franchise when he signed as the number one draft pick in 1958. The Lakers were a bottom feeder looking for somebody to bring them back to the glory days of George Mikan and company. Baylor delivered, sending the team, which was coming of a last place season, to the championship series against the Celtics. Baylor went on to lead the Lakers to seven more NBA championship series, unfortunately the mighty Celtics beat the Lakers every time they met in the finals. Baylor put up huge numbers along the way. He averaged over 34 points per game in three separate seasons and his 38.3 points per game in 1962 is second to only Chamberlain. In 1960 he put up a then NBA record 71 points in a game. Basically, he was a scoring machine, yet Baylor also managed to average 13.5 rebounds for his entire career! Basically, a monster. 5. Hakeem Olajuwon Olajuwon comes in at fifth and the big question might be why does he end up higher than Shaq. Well, Shaq of course could still move up, but at this point Olajuwon gets the ever so slight nod. This is mainly based on his back-to-back championship runs with the Rockets in the mid '90s. Of course Shaq won three, but Olajuwon was the man on those Rockets teams. In fact, he was the only All-Star on either of those title teams. Pretty amazing. Olajuwon out dueled several of the other top big men of his day during the title runs. He went up against Ewing's Knicks in '94, and came away the victor, and then ousted the Shaq led Magic in a four game sweep in '95. What also can't be forgotten is that Olajuwon is the NBA career blocks leader with 3,830, over 600 more than second place Abdul-Jabbar. 6. Shaquille O'Neal Shaq has his three NBA titles with the Lakers and is still gunning for more with the Heat, so he could still move ahead of Olajuwon. Shaq's legacy though may not be as easy to quantify as simply stating the titles he's won or his points or rebounds. You just have to see what he does down low in the paint. He simply dominates in a way that very few have. You can't really explain it. You just have to see it to believe it. And he should have won more than one regular season MVP award. 7. Elvin Hayes Hayes was an Ironman who only missed 9 regular season games in his 16 year career. He came into the league in 1969 and as a rookie with the San Diego Rockets put up over 28 points and 17 rebounds a game. His 28 ppg led the NBA in scoring. Hayes joined the Bullets in 1972, teaming up with Wes Unseld and helping lead the team to three NBA Finals ('75, '78 and '79), winning the title in '78. Hayes ended his career with 27,313 points, good for eight all-time and 16,279 rebounds, which ranks sixth all-time. 8. David Robinson The Admiral didn't start his NBA career until he was over 24 years old, but still managed to play 14 very productive years, and won his second NBA title in his final season. Robinson scored 71 points in the last game of the 1994 season to win the scoring title over Shaquille O'Neal. In 1999 Robinson helped guide the Spurs to the NBA title, beating the Patrick Ewing led Knicks 4-1 in the championship. He scored 13 points and 17 rebounds in his final game, the sixth and deciding game of the 2003 championship series against the New Jersey Nets. Robinson is one of only four players to record a quadruple-doube, scoring 34 points and 10 assists, rebounds and blocks in a 1994 game.. 9. Patrick Ewing Ewing played 17 seasons, 139 playoff games and in 11 All-Star games. Ewing finished his career with 24,815 points, 11,607 rebounds and 2,894 blocks. Ewing guided the Knicks to the 1994 Finals and if it wasn't for the Jordan-led Bulls, Ewing might have won some titles. Unfortunately the Knicks, who had built the team around Ewing, were at their best during the reign of the Bulls. Ewing may have never led the league in scoring or rebounding, won a title or been an MVP, but he is nonetheless one of the best centers to have played the game. He just happened to play at the wrong time. 10. Bob Lanier Lanier edges out Walt Bellamy for the tenth and final spot. He may be the only one in the top ten to have never reached the Finals, but it wasn't Lanier's fault. He consistently put up at least 20 and 10 throughout most of the '70s. He was somewhat of a forebearer to the bigmen of today, who not only have interior skills, but a well developed outside game as well. Lanier was an eight time All-Star and one time All-Star game MVP. Other top #1 picks- Walt Bellamy Cazzie Russell David Thompson Mychal Thompson Active players with a chance to get into my top ten: Allen Iverson Iverson; the only little guy amongst all these giants, may not have the career totals of some of the big men on this list, but he is still a work in progress, and doesn't appear to be trailing off anytime soon. In fact, in his tenth season in the league, Iverson put up career bests, averaging 33 points and 10 assists a game. Only Oscar and Tiny Archibald have ever put up 30 and 10 in a season. Truly amazing when you consider that he's 6 feet, 165 pounds and OVER 30 years old. Iverson currently carries career averages of 28 ppg and 6.1 apg. Iverson has also excelled on defense, averaging 2.34 steals for his career. Iverson may very well crack into my top 10 before his career his through. Tim Duncan Duncan already has three titles under his belt and has the luxury of playing on yet another title contending team. His legacy is already showing shades of Kareem, as he is often overshadowed by others, while quietly exuding greatness. His performance this past season hasn't been on par with his first eight seasons in the league. This could just be a matter of minor injuries and the Spurs ability to rest Duncan for the playoffs, or it could be the beginning of a slow decline in career numbers. If Duncan still has a few solid seasons left in the tank, and he should (at the least,) then he might be able to get into the top ten. Lebron James James is still obviously a long way away from being on the top ten list, but anyone who has seen him in action knows he is fully capable of being one of the best (ever). He could end up averaging a triple-double, scoring 25-30,000 career points, grabbing over 10,000 career rebounds and winning a few MVP awards. At this point though, it's all speculation, but I have a feeling that James might be knocking someone off the top ten list before he hangs his sneakers up. Yao Ming Yao began his NBA career rather slowly, but that can be expected from a young foreign player coming into the league. Yao is just starting to come into his own, and is arguably the best center in the league. With Tracy McGrady at the wing, the Rockets could be a dangerous club in the coming years if the management are able to put the right complimentary pieces in place. Yao will have his work cut out for him though as there are so many quality centers on this list already. Dwight Howard Howard is still eons away from the top ten, but he is an absolute monster on the boards and he's 20 years old. Sky's the limit!! Tim Adams
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